


Bebé Niña

by LonelyPickle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Child Abuse, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Don't worry, F/M, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Hurt Comfort From Team, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron)-centric, OC Are In The Past, Other Than Valeria, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Abuse, Protective Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2018-11-13 10:12:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11182944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonelyPickle/pseuds/LonelyPickle
Summary: Some things are completely unexpected, yet could be the best things that have happened to you. It was astonishing to Lance, as a simple broken piece of latex could lead to him losing one of the best girl's in his life, yet gain another.And boy, did he ever want to see her. At least once more.





	1. Valeria McClain

**Author's Note:**

> Here is the intro to the story! I may or may have not added just a dash of angst.

Some things are completely unexpected, yet could be the best things that have happened to you. It was astonishing to Lance, as a simple broken piece of latex could lead to him losing one of the best girl's in his life, yet gain another. They are both so beautiful, and curious, Lance wished he could turn back time to Earth. He was praying every night to at least see his family, and his bebé niña once more. The memory of her plump cheeks, and never fading smile was engraved in his mind, and he found himself always sketching drawings of her on a daily basis. The way she was always more drawn towards her papa, rather than mama, and that had always warmed Lance's heart.   
   
Valeria McClain.   
   
His baby daughter he so dearly missed.    
   
He remembered back when she made her dramatic entrance into the world, screaming and crying, yet was still the most beautiful thing Lance had ever seen in his entire life. Even more than his ex-girlfriend, Clara, and Lance was one hundred percent sure he would always think so. On November seventh Lance promised himself he would always protect her, no matter what. No human, or obstacle would get in his way from that. He would even tear apart the world to protect her from nightmares.   
   
He knew that Clara felt a little envious, however, she did always keep supportive through it all. Eventually her, and Lance's relationship simply couldn’t last. He knew that she wanted a more heated, intimate relationship than he could provide. Valeria was always the center of his attention, and he intended to keep it that way. Lance loved Clara, Clara loved Lance, but their relationship standards simply didn’t meet up. They opted to being friends, and shared Valeria by taking turns having her over. Eventually, two years later, Clara moved on with another boy, and Lance was accepted into the Galaxy Garrison.   
   
He knew he had to let Clara keep Valeria. However, Clara's boyfriend didn’t agree, hitting both of the best girls in Lance's life.   
   
On the story went, and Valeria was left in the care of Lance's parents. She fit right in there, as she took for more of Lance's personality, and physical traits. Valeria was like another sibling for Lance's brothers, and sisters, and another chance for his parents to go through parenting for while again. They skyped Lance at the Garrison for as long as he was there. He kept it secret away from Pidge, and Hunk, but he vowed to tell them eventually. Lance could imagine Clara scolding him for being rude, and hiding things, and then she'd kiss him on the forehead. After, of course, punching him, lighting, in the stomach to make him bend down. Clara was a force to be reckoned with.   
   
Which led to Lance feeling anguish for her current relationship. He didn’t want to imagine what kind of pain she could be currently going through.   
   
He wanted to back down to tell his family he was safe.   
   
Save Clara from her abusive boyfriend.   
   
Be Valeria's dad.   
   
Honestly, he just wanted to go home. 


	2. Letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, the only part of this I'm proud of is the first 1000 words, and I may have had too much fun with the Galra part haha sorry. OH BTW THIS IS NOT A KLANCE FIC JUST SO YOU KNOW SORRY

The sound of hard shoes slapping the ground, and labored, shallow filled the hallway, as the two of them ran. As much as they both wanted to stop and have a break, they knew the Galra were right on their tail. The green paladin kept her Bayard in a position, as if ready to strike if needed, while the blue paladin held his close to his chest. He never was the best at running, at least sprinting, he'd rather do a slow, long jog than sprints. The fact that Lance hadn't got the chance to eat any breakfast this morning, since Hunk slept in late, his stomach felt like it was show his last nights dinner.    
   
Lance sneaked a look behind him, yelping at the sight of raging Galra soldiers chasing after them, obviously closer than a couple minutes ago. He couldn’t help but yearn back to the beginning of the mission where everything was working out much better than currently. He, and Pidge were just meant to sneak into the control room, and Pidge would get some time to search for her brother, and plant a bomb. However, the Galra's didn’t seem to like that plan as much as they did, and immediately went for the kill shots as they blasted their weapons at the two teenagers.    
   
"Ah!" The smaller girl shrieked as she came hurtling towards the ground. Lance immediately stopped, heart beating against his ribcage, as if it were to break out. His blue eyes flicked to the oncoming enemies, and dread seemed to just nestle itself inside Lance's stomach. "Quiznack," She breathed out. "I think I twisted my ankle." Lance stared at her, hiding the worry from his features, by replacing them with a confident smirk, and he scooped her up into his arms.    
   
"Hey, Hunk," Lance called out, in his helmet.    
   
"Yeah? Are you okay?"   
   
"Um, define okay," Lance huffed out a laugh, ignoring his burning lungs. "Yeah, Pidge twisted her ankle running from guards. We're going to need some back up!" Lance had barely dodged a bullet that flew past his shoulder.    
   
Keith then piped up, "We're coming."    
   
Lance would never admit it, but the relief he felt when Keith said those words was indescribable. So, he made it his mission to at least make it semi-easier for his two rescuers, and promised himself to at least get back to their lions that were just outside the ship.    
   
From his arms, Pidge decided she wasn't going to let Lance have all of the fun, so she decided to shoot her grapping hook out from her bayard to trip some of the guards that were frighteningly close. She knew that Lance would feel better—quite frankly she could sometimes see straight through his confident façade--if the guards weren't quite so close to his legs.    
   
Pidge smiled at him. "You're welcome."    
   
She felt him let out a painful chuckle.     
   
There was a couple of minutes with Lance just pure booking it with Pidge in his arms, but the adrenaline was wearing off a bit, and fatigue was nipping at Lance's body. Sweat was forming on Lance's forehead, and inside his armor, he wasn't feeling the best then. _Just a bit further,_ Lance thought to himself, _do it for Val._    
   
Eventually, they both made it to their escape area, and climbed out of the ship, right after Lance shot a couple more Galra's. Pidge took note of how much better Lance was becoming with his bayard, and tried to remind herself to praise him when they get back to the castle-ship. Lance and Pidge both took off with on their jetpacks to their lions, and quickly got into them. Blue immediately latched onto Lance's mind, and comforted him from his worry. Lance muttered out a thanks, and smiled warmly at the controls, before taking off from the ship.    
   
The enemies ship was obviously preparing for battle, as their cannons were turning towards the two paladins, and were firing in random places in space. Blue and Green were both maneuvering with ease, even firing back at the ship—as it was a simple storage ship, it wasn't meant for battle.    
   
"Hey, Allura, you coming or not?" Pidge finally voiced, urgently waiting for the familiar ship to wormhole there. It wasn’t particularly far, but it definitely wasn't close. "We need someone here!" Lance watched in the video camera, as Pidge lurched forward from a blast that hit her lion.    
   
"I'm working on it, Pidge!" Lance could tell Allura was angry.   
   
"Don't worry, Paladins, Princess is just tired, that's all!" Coran spoke up, smiling at Lance and Pidge through the video link. "You will have your back up soon enough!"   
   
Lance nodded, while Pidge rolled her eyes. Allura seemed to notice, and scowled. In Pidge's defense, she is fighting a ship with a twisted ankle, and they hurt quite a bit. A couple seconds later a familiar wormhole showed up, and two other paladins came raging through, immediately firing at the enemy ship. They all helped each other take down the ship, and it came crashing into another uninhabitable planet. All of the paladins screamed with joy, and they all made their way back through the wormhole, and boarded onto the ship.   
   
 Lance was exiting Blue, when he saw Allura stomping her way over to him. Shiro, and Coran followed behind wordlessly, yet they looked happy the mission was over, and done with. As much as Lance wanted to be happy he had completed another mission without dying, he knew he couldn't from the expression Allura was giving him.   
   
" _What was that?!_ " Allura all but yelled, stepping into Lance's personal space.   
   
"Huh?" Yeah, Lance was quite confused.    
   
"You almost put your entire team in danger by needing even more support! I send you on one solo mission, is that too much for you?"    
   
"Um," Lance swallowed thickly, trying to figure out the words to defend himself. Thankfully, he didn’t have to.   
   
"Hey!" Pidge then stormed up to her, limping slightly—however, if she was in pain, she wasn't showing it. "Back off, Lady! Technically it's my fault, and Lance saved _MY_ ass, believe it or not!"   
   
"It wasn't your fault, Pidge," Hunk then butted in. "This is what a team is for, though, Princess." Hunk rubbed the back of his neck. "We help each other when we need it, doesn't matter if we're in danger or not. Isn't that kind of what Voltron's about?"   
   
Lance had a small smile on his face, his stomach tightening with happiness. The Garrison trio truly does look out for one another. Lance even looked at Keith, who was obviously holding back a smile, and continued to watch the interaction go down.    
   
Meanwhile, Allura looked completely and utterly pissed. Too angry to speak, she twisted off, listing off orders to Coran, and Shiro.   
   
"Good job, Paladins." Coran smiled, before chasing after Allura.    
   
"Yeah, I'm proud of you all." Shiro put his hand on Lance's shoulder, before following.   
   
Lance looked back at his two best friends, who were also looking at Lance. He let out a giant grin, straight before Hunk pulled them all in for a bear hug.    
   
~~~~~   
   
"Zarkon is expecting us to report anything we can possibly find on the Paladins of Voltron," The Galran officer glared at each of his guards, taking in everyone's expressions. "Does anyone know where we should start?"   
   
"Maybe their home?"   
   
"Names?"   
   
"Uh... weaknesses?"   
   
The officer perked up at the last one, and pointed at the specific galra, nodding. "Good idea. Does anyone know any?"   
   
Silence.   
   
"Oh quiznack." The officer began pacing in front of his guards, his hand on his chin. Then suddenly an idea popped up in his head. "What's their names?"   
   
"Uh, I think I've heard Hunk, Shiro, Keef, Lance, and Pig?" One of them blurted, blushing at the vague names. The officer simply sighed, writing down the names. He knew the Champion, and that was all.    
   
"I'll just contact Haggar."   
   
Multiple silent moments dragged on for the Galran people, and the Altean showed up on their screen. She didn’t look happy, as she was glaring directly at the officer, gritting her teeth. "What?"   
   
"What's the Paladins names?"    
   
"You are fools," Haggar muttered. "Hunk, Pidge—who I am sure is related to the prisoners Matt, and Samuel Holt—Keith, the Champion, and Lance."   
   
"Alright, thanks babe." The guards quickly got a glance of Haggar's enraged features, before the officer turned off the screen. "Okay, you were somewhat off, Jeff. Now, we already know that they come from Earth, as the Blue lion was seen flying from there. So, we'll just have to search them in Earth's search engine. . . 'Google'."    
   
Nothing useful popped up on their screen.   
   
"Oh come on." The officer groaned.   
   
~~~~~   
   
Keith was breathing hard, as he swung his bayard at the simulation training drones. The drone fell backwards, knocking into Lance, making him fall onto his back. Lance let out a shriek, and rubbed his back from the pain. He couldn’t help but send a glare Keith's way. He simply ignored Lance, and stabbed the drone with his bayard. They both sit down, opposite of each other, breathing shallow. Happiness couldn’t help but swell in Lance's heart, as he and Keith took down a level five drone together. Granted, it took them almost an hour, and they probably almost died a couple times, but they did it, and that was good enough for Lance. His skills with his bayard was getting better each training session, and he knew the rest of the team noticed as well. Lance is good at reading human facial features, and the team was fairly easy to read.    
   
"So," Lance said, smirking at Keith once his breathing calmed down a bit. "We did it."   
   
Keith took a look at the fallen droid. "Yeah, I guess we did. You're getting better."   
   
"I guess that's bound to happen after almost a year in space." Lance couldn’t help but joke, running a hand through his soft hair.    
   
Keith hummed in agreement. They then sat in silence. _Perhaps Keith isn't as bad as I thought,_ Lance thought to himself.   
   
~~~~~   
   
_Dear Valeria,_    
   
_I hope your doing well, and that by the time your old enough to read this I'll be back a home with you._    
   
_However, I don't know even if I'll make it back, and I need to make sure to at least apologize to you._    
   
_I am such a shit dad, and I am so terribly sorry for that, you deserve someone better._    
   
_BTW no swearing, okay? Do as I say, not as I do... but that's beside the point._    
   
_I'm going to start writing to you, and hopefully give these to you if I go back to earth, otherwise Blue will send these to you._    
   
_You'll be my sort-of journal, I guess. I want to start writing about my adventures out in space, and why the hell you're never going anywhere near it._    
   
_Unless it's your dream, then I can't do anything there._    
   
_So, yeah. You're currently three, and you're turning four in November._    
   
_And I'm so sorry because I have no idea when November is, time is so scrambled in space._    
   
_So... yeah, be prepared to read all of my shitty puns, and jokes, in these letters, because there will be TONS!_    
   
_But I_    
   
_Sorry, I'll continue this letter onto the next, Princess Allura is calling me down to the bridge._    
   
_I love you._  


	3. Visits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHORT CHAPTER BUT HEYYYYYYYY AN UPDATE! Plus, I started another fanfic, it's a Matt Holt centric so.... ALSO Grammarly was my befriend while writing this chapter.

As Lance finally decided to write another letter for Val, he sat by Blue, just allowing her to give him the emotional support. Sometimes blue would give him ideas for things to write about, or remind him of a word he forgotten, and Lance was definitely appreciative of her. He'd never let Blue think he didn’t appreciate that, so it led to him thanking her after every line. Perhaps it was a habit he had gotten from his big family back at home, his parents would never allow their children be rude, so they were taught to thank people for every little favor. Lance couldn't help but do that, and it was becoming more frequent as his homesickness grew within the days. 

Blue didn't mind it, however, she was worried for her paladin, and always made sure to support him wherever she could, and reminds him to cut back on the manners, sometimes. Her adoration flourished for Lance as well, always keeping a keen eye on Lance's behavior, and actions. Sometimes the other lions would help as well, as Lance would visit each lion on his free time. The Lions guessed it was because he wanted to create a deeper bond for Voltron, however, they later realized it was deeper than that. It was more for a friend for Lance. Quickly the Lions realized Lance was the kind of person to talk about their problems and work it out, so they let it happen. Somehow, throughout it all, they cared for Lance more and more and developed a sense of protectiveness over the boy. 

The Cuban teen was completely oblivious to the entire universe, except for Blue, who lie firmly in his mind, wrapping her figurative warm arms around his mind—as in for a figurative mind hug, Lance guessed. She watched as Lance stared at the piece of paper in his lap, taking minutes at a time to figure out a single sentence, and then neatly write it down. He made sure that he made no mistakes with his writing, and wrote as neatly as humanly possible for him. The pencil swirled, and danced across the page, dotting the I's with empty circles. 

Lance then heaved a sigh. "What do you think, Blue?" Lance asked, turning to face the blue lion. "Do you think it's good enough?" 

Blue nodded—not really, just in Lance's mind—and hummed with pride and love. Lance could vaguely feel the other lions agreeing, and expressing their admiration for Lance. As the father continued to fix his gaze on the letter, looking for an aberration, he failed to notice the three incoming figures into the room. It wasn't until Blue pointed them out did Lance look up. 

"Think what's good enough?" The girl asked, tilting her head to the side. Lance almost jumped out of his skin trying to figure out where to stash the letter but decided to just leave it in the open. After all, whenever something is out in the open, usually nobody finds it. At least that happens to Lance, anyway.

Lance laughed nervously. "Oh, nothing. What's up guys?" 

"I... I need to talk to you, Lance." Allura stammered, looking to the ground with shame, a light blush brushed upon her cheeks. Nervousness was like a light beaming from Allura's skin, it was easy to spot for Lance. Lance looked expectantly towards his two best friends. 

"All of us are gonna watch some earth movies that Pidge found, after this." Hunk informed, smiling. 

"What movies did you find?" 

"Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Cinderella," Pidge said, grinning like a maniac. "All of the must see's." 

Lance nodded, gently pushing his letter into his pocket. "Awesome," He looked to Allura. "What'd you want to talk to me about?" 

"I want to apologize." 

~~~~~ 

After an entire hour of Allura apologizing to Lance, they finally come to an understanding that she was tired from the lack of sleep and being worked from piloting the ship, and was just plain cranky from it. They all went on to watch the Disney, and Pixar movies together. 

They were all huddled on the couch or sprawled out on the floor. The bowl of popcorn would every so often be handed around--since Hunk finally found the alien equivalent to popcorn kernels--and they were all covered in blankets. Lance looked around the room with fondness. 

No, Voltron is not only a team but is a family. 

And Lance was grateful for that.

~~~~~

"You know," The girl said, pushing her gold locks away from her face. "When I told Brett that I had a child he slapped me?" She asked, directly looking into each of her ex-boyfriends' families faces. "When I told Lance... he told me we could make it. We would raise her together, and be happy." She huffed out a small chuckle. "I remember Lance had a lot of optimism, yet he was pushed around every day for being different. He's the strongest person I know, and I'm sure you all agree. You all miss him, and so do I, and Val. That's why I have to ask," As she continued to scan the room, she became nervous. "Will you all help me find him, please?"

Lance's mother, Sofia, looked at the young woman with sad eyes, her husband mumbling small curse words in Spanish. "I wish," She then said, her voice heavy with an accent. "The police have already looked into it, we're not allowed."

"We already have been searching on our off days, and the kids are always looking for him as if every hour of every day was hide and seek," Sofia's husband, Dante, informed. "The police had to come and talk to us personally. Apparently, it is 'too dangerous'." Dante scowled at the memory.

"I know, they've come to talk to me as well," Clara said. "But I just have this feeling that they're not quite looking in the right places."

"They've been searching everywhere near here, Clara," Sofia said sadly, her face obviously showing the defeat on her face. "Lance has been gone for almost a year, hun."

Clara stared at the broken parents, searching their faces for any signs of a fight. The fight was all there, but they didn't have enough strength to do so. They were working parents who usually had Lance to take care of the kids when they were gone to work, and if not then they had Clara, then both of them left their lives. Though they couldn't fight themselves, Clara knew she had to do it on her own. After all, she still loved Lance, and she wouldn't anyone get in the way of giving Valeria a proper father. 

"I'll find him then."


	4. Bed Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I have barely an excuse for not writing, and it's simply no motivation, nor discipline. However, I'm back! I've got a little bit of summer vacation left... so that's something. Your comments motivated me though! I checked back with how many of you guys wanted more, and hooo-boy, you guys really motivated me. Sure, this is kinda a small chapter, but then again, when is it not?  
>  ALSO I HAVE AN INSTAGRAM IF YOU WANT TO CHECK IT OUT, ITS @DuoDone

Pidge wasn’t in her room. She wasn’t in the kitchen with Hunk. She wasn’t training with Keith--which, let's be real, why would she? She wasn’t with the mice, nor any of the Alteans. But the most mind boggling thing was that her computer was still charging in her room, and she wasn’t anywhere to be found. It wasn’t unheard of, Pidge not being in her room late at night, but that didn’t mean Lance would stop worrying about her. She, as much as Lance wouldn’t admit it, was like a little sister to him. She reminded him of _his_ little sisters. They all had sass to spare, yet loving, protective, and would do anything for their family. 

Lance continued to stomp down the corridors, glancing into each of the rooms, and taking deep breaths to calm his nerves. It’s just like all those other times when Valeria would go crawling away from Lance, and- Lance shook his head from the memories, and fastened his pace.

“Pidge?” Lance called out, glancing into the healing pod's station. “Pidge?” He titled his head at the sight. Pidge was tinkering with the healing pods, tongue sticking out with concentration, and her brother's glasses on the table. She didn’t seem to notice him, so he went in further. “Pidge, I think it’s a bit passed the time to start on new projects, don’t you think?” Lance chuckled, smiling. 

“Oh!” Pidge jumped away from the pod, hands innocently away from the key pad. “Lance, I didn’t hear you coming in. I was just finishing up.”

“What are you even doing?” He asked, curious.

“Well,” The playful, all knowing smirk was plastered on the youngers face, as she gestured to the healing pod. “I’ve realized something over the time we’ve all been here, and that’s how long the healing pods take to heal someone completely. The thing is, the gem inside it glows semi-brightly, while the one powering the castle shines extremely bright... to dumb down the words. You see where I’m getting at?”

In all honesty, no, he didn’t. Though, of course, he couldn’t tell her that.

“Yeah! I see Pigeon. Shine’s brighter, Badda bing, Badda boom. Definitely, can upgrade!” Lance smiled falsely at Pidge, whilst she just looked at him unimpressed. She then sighed, obviously trying to hide the smile that was bound to fly out. 

“It means that the healing pods aren’t being used to their full capacity. Yes, it heals quickly, but it can go quicker. All I need is a stronger crystal, and I can upgrade the pods to heal people in a matter of hours, rather than days.”

_Oh._

“Oh,” Lance chuckled, brushing off the feeling of embarrassment, and put his arm around Pidge. Time for a subject change. “Alright, that’s exactly what I thought. Though, I think you could probably work ten times faster if you weren’t putting all your energy into keeping your eyes open.” He then gestured to the hallway. “I think it’s time for you to go to bed. You can work on this tomorrow!”

“Hey,” Pidge pushed Lance’s arm off her shoulders. “Hunk gets to stay up. Hell, everyone else gets to stay up, why can’t I?”

“First of all, no one is staying up, you are just the first on my list to get to bed. Secondly, you are a child, Pidge. You need more sleep than anyone else. You’re like. . . six.”

Pidge elbowed his stomach, making him bend over, holding it. He cringed, peaking back up to the culprit. “I am not a child! The only six year old here is Shiro, and you’re not the boss of me.”

That’s when Lance could feel his parenting instincts kicking in, and decided to be a little bit more sly about the entire situation. She was right, he wasn’t the boss of her. Doesn’t mean he can’t boss her around, she just won’t realize it. He did the same thing to his daughter. She was young, extremely young, though she seemed to understand a challenge when she was offered one. 

“Really, not a child?” Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. “Only a child would throw a temper tantrum.” Well, there is also Keith. . .

“Wha-?” Pidge almost threw her foot down, then stopped. Her eyes widened at her pose and immediately went back to standing straight. “I am not throwing a tantrum.” She said calmly. “I am a teenager.”

“Barely. You don’t even get acne yet.”

“What? How does acne have anything to do with being a teenager? You don’t have any!”

“Thanks for the compliment. . . ish? I take care of my skin. You simply haven’t gotten old enough. You, my friend, are still a child.”

She seemed to think this over for a second. Her mouth opened for a retort but she seemed to think better of it. She was too tired to keep this up. Lance’s information was all wrong, he was aware of that. He had bits of acne before he even entered his teens, but he also knew that the longer he could keep the retorts up, the more tired the child would be. Hence, he would sometimes just let Valeria cry it out on her bad days until she would finally calm down. 

“Whatever, Lance,” She mumbled, turning back to the healing pod. “Just go away.”

“Do I have to carry you?” He suddenly asked, a smirk still placed on his lips.

“No.” She seemed to be becoming more aggravated. 

“Well, then,” He said, sitting down on the ground. “I’ll just wait for you then. Maybe we could have a little bonding time.” 

Pidge was planning to continue this project until she faints, and that was for a while now. However, she knows that she could definitely not take more than ten more minutes with him when she is sleep deprived.

“Ugh,” She suddenly moaned, turning away from the healing pod, and walking straight for the hallway. “Fine, I’ll go to bed. Just stop.” 

He smiled victoriously, whooped randomly into the air. It takes _skill_ to defeat the great Pidgetto, and he has done it. It is a glorious feat. 

Now, time for Hunk. He was probably the easiest one to get to bed, as he usually enjoys going to bed early to eat breakfast. Though, some nights he gets stressed out, and Lance has to deal with another stressed, food loving teenager. Whom is also sleep deprived

He wasn’t saying that Hunk isn’t usually a ball of sunshine because he definitely is, though Hunk has his moments. Just like how Keith sometimes has his moments of happiness and random bonding moments with Lance. 

Lance made his way to the kitchen, whistling quietly, and stopped by the door. He noticed Hunk scurrying around the kitchen like a maniac, though his face was deep in thought. Hunks hand absent mindedly began chopping up random alien fruits and set them all into a bowl, and took what looked to be a space cake out of the oven. Hunk spread some sort of cream onto the cake and put the space fruits on the circumference of the cakes top. 

Lance could definitely tell that there was something Hunk was fretting about. 

And Lord, Lance really just wanted to go back to his room, put on a face mask, and sleep. But he has more friends to take care of.

“Whatcha baking?”

“Oh!” Hunk shrieked, almost dropping some of the fruits in his hands. “Lance! You scared me. I, uh, was just making a space cake. I found some sort of space ingredient that is somewhat equivalent to vanilla, so I got Coran to go back to the mall to look for specific ingredients. Turns out, they have all that I need. So, space cake! Then I just added some fruits to add more of a homey-feel to it.”

“That’s awesome, dude!” Lance happily said, patting his friend on the back. “But, just one question. Why now?”

“Huh?”

“It’s literally one in the morning, Hunk. Why are you baking? What’s up?”

“Nothing, Lance, nothing,” Hunk said, smiling at his friend. It seemed a bit forced in Lance’s opinion. “I was just hungry and I can’t stand the food goo right now.”

Lance looked at Hunk skeptically and sighed. “Is it about the mission in two days?”

“No! No!”

“Because you do have an important part in it.” Lance continued. This seemed to deflate his friend.

“Thanks for summing that up.”

“But,” Lance said happily. “I’ll be there too.” Hunk looked at Lance questioningly. “You won’t be alone, that’s what I mean. You are fully capable of it, and even if it doesn’t end up working out, there’s still Voltron right behind you.”

That seemed to cheer Hunk right up.

After Lance had a big conversation on how much his friend mattered, it was almost three in the morning, and he knew that the rest of the team must have gone to bed right already. Though, he checked all of the rooms again and was content when he found that each room was empty. Even Keith had gone to bed earlier. Before he decided that the day was over, he checked Pidge’s room last, to make sure she wasn’t on her laptop. She wasn’t. He guessed that she could tell that he would check up on her later, and decided the best option was just for her to go to bed. 

Heading back to his room, he passes the training room. He stopped quickly. He’s noticed that he seemed to be stiffing up with the lack of stretching, and dancing he has been doing, and it’s been showing up on his hand to hand combat. He used to be able to do an entire split, and then some, and he can barely do one now. His moves aren’t as graceful, and his rhythm is slowly escaping him.

That’s when an idea hit him.

He glanced in the training room.

Next time he’ll try it.

~~~~~

Clara sighed, the officer seemed to have completely given up on all hope of finding Lance. Her current boyfriend couldn't care less about the oh-so-special missing Cuban boy, and it was rubbing Clara the wrong way.

The undercover officer stood up from her spot in the cafe and simply walked out after paying for both of their drinks. She felt her brush past, and a squeeze on her shoulder, and felt the wind blow on the back of her head from the door closing. It was coming close to winter, which meant Valerias birthday. Clara had asked what she wanted for her birthday, and she immediately replied with “daddy”.

She felt her own face frown with sadness from the memory.

Lance would never leave his family like that. Even when he was at the Garrison he still helped his family when he was away from it. Somehow, Clara knows that Lance is trying to get back to them. Lance is not dead. 

Lance is not dead, and she’s tired of hearing everyone say it.


	5. Pineapple Space Goo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, *laughs nervously* it's been awhile, eh? Sorry about that. Don't have an excuse. But you can thank my friend Paige for reminding me about the world of writing fanfictions.   
> Kind of short chapter. . . sorry.

The ship was quiet, as the sleep-deprived Galran guards sat in their conference room. They all glanced at each other, tapping their feet gently on the ground. There was nothing to be said, as they all have failed miserably in their mission. Mission to finding out more on the Voltron crew members. They knew their names, colours, and leader, yet they couldn't find anything else. 

None the less, in one specific, running late, guards' mind, there was a plan forming. And it had something to do with two special hostages. 

She threw the doors open, smiling crazily with her sharp teeth. "I've got it!"

Everyone seemed to perk up.

"What is is, Guard Mag?" The leading officer asks, immediately straightening from his seat.

"It's the Holt family! Why didn't we think of this sooner? Haggar said that this Pidge fellow was related to them! We can easily use those two to manipulate the paladin! Not to mention, the Champion!" She was now shaking the Galran officer happily. "Gah, it's so simple, and we missed it!"

The officers' eyes widened, as well as his smile. _No wonder why Haggar calls them stupid sometimes_ , he thinks. "Of course. . . what about the other three paladins?'

Mag had to try to keep the 'this is obvious' look off of her face, before opening her mouth to speak. "They're all a team, and they can't all work together if they're missing two of Voltron. So, either they come along with the Green and Black Paladin, or they have to try to get them back from our clutches. That's when we attack."

"Alright then," He smiled at the guards, who were finally seeing the 'light' in the situation. "Let's bring this to Haggar."

"I have a question," One guard, Jeff, raised his hand. "How the quiznack did Haggar not see this?"

_Who's the idiotic one now, Hags?_

~~~~~

"I can't believe the mission is tomorrow, I'm dreading it."

"Oh come on, Hunk, you'll do great!" Lance exclaimed, throwing his arm around his best friend. "We go in, you do your super awesome armour moves, we all grab the hot alien babes, and get on out of that planet. Tadaa, we win!"

Hunk rolled his eyes fondly at his friend. "I think you're making this sound way easier than it actually is. We have to fight the Galra too, and actually look for the aliens inhabiting the planet. We don't actually know where these 'hot alien babes' actually are hiding."

"Sure," Lance gave him credit for that. "But that shouldn't be hard. They'll be drawn out of their caves with my Spanish charm." He gave hunk his best 'picking up girls' smirk. This seemed to ease some of the tension in Hunks shoulders. 

"Actually, Lance," Pidge cut in. "You're not going near them. Shiro and I are." She laughed. "You are going with Keith to scout."

"Oh yeah," Lance drawled, looking pensive. "I don't really want to spend that much bonding time with that Texan." He smirked, knowing the familiar dark-haired boy was listening in on their conversation.

He heard Keith sigh loudly. "I'm not from Texas!"

"Ah, he's such a cowboy."

"I'm from Korea!"

"Anyways," Pidge laughed, turning back to Hunk. "The mission won't be bad, you've got this. We all got this."

"Voltron's behind you." Lance smiled, recalling his words. Hunk seemed to notice too, and he seemed to gain a bit more confidence in this. "Anywho, can we get this conversation away from tomorrow, I kinda want to eat some food. I'm starving."

"Some Food Goo coming right up for you, sir!" Hunk exclaimed cheerfully. "Would you like it regular, or space pineapple flavoured?"

Lance seemed to be shocked, his eyes widening with pleasure. "We have space pineapple flavour!? Since when?"

"Since, like, last night? I told you Coran bought some space fruit." Hunk brought the fruit up to Lance's line of vision, and Lance could swear that he was drooling. Lord, he didn't realize how appetizing the fruit seemed last night when he was tired. But now that he's completely aware, he was more than ready to binge eat the entire bowl full. 

The three paladins, Lance, Pidge, and Keith, all went to sit at the table, whilst Hunk went to the kitchen to make up some food for the four of them. The atmosphere was chilled out, and nice. Lance revelled in the relaxed atmosphere, but he was gaining annoyance from the lack of movement, and sound. Of course, he had to make up for that. He began to hum a lullaby and lightly tapped his foot on the ground.

Pidge seemed to recognize the well-known lullaby and smiled at Lance. It reminded her of her brother, as he used to hum it to her when she would have nightmares. They were very close. Probably closer than any other siblings, Pidge liked to think. 

Keith didn't really know it, but let Lance continue to hum, enjoying the sound of his voice. He would never admit it, but he enjoyed a bit of music whenever he could listen. It just seemed to be more calming when Lance did it. _Maybe it's a children's lullaby?_ Keith guessed. _Lance did show that he had a lot of siblings during the first ever mind meld, maybe he used to hum to them? That's probably right, as he seems to be used to humming in front of people. Then again, he is a people person. Perhaps he sings well? Why am I thinking so much about this?_

"Do you sing?" Keith blurted before he could stop. Lance raised an eyebrow. "Like, have you ever sang in front of people?"

"Uh, yeah? Sometimes I would go to the local pub and sing for extra cash. Valeria seemed to like it, so I went there a lot." Lance didn't even realize what he said until he finished.

"Who's Valeria?" Pidge stumbled over the unknown name. "Sister?"

"Uh, y-yeah. She was three when I left. You don't happen to know when November is, do you?"

"Really soon, I think in a couple of weeks actually. I take it that's her birthday." Pidge said, becoming a bit homesick from the familiar conversation.

"Yeah, November seventh. . . you don't think I could convince Allura to let us visit home. . . do you?" Lance knew it was a stretch, and a leap of faith, but he was determined to make it happen. 

"She might if I'm being honest," Pidge said, being thoughtful.

"Considering we had that entire bonding," Lance snickered. "Night, I think she might," Keith said, rubbing his fingers with his thumb. He looked awkward, but Lance could definitely see that Keith cared. That's a nice thought.

"Yeah," Pidge was getting excited now. "We could convince her to let us take an extra ship, maybe like an escape pod, and go to Earth! That way we could go somewhat undetected by the Galra--as we're not riding primary coloured lions--and not be detected by Earth if we use the camouflage on them!"

"Was that another project you were working on late at night?" Keith asked, looking pointed at her. 

"Maybe," She looked sheepish and was too excited to lie her way out of it. "We should probably bring this up soon, so she has some time to think about it, and locate Earth."

"Locate Earth, what?" Hunk almost dropped his plate of food as he walked into the dining area. 

"We're gonna try to get Allura to let us go to Earth for my sister's birthday!" Lance said excitedly. 

The thought of none of Lance's sisters had birthdays at the end of the year quickly passed Hunk's mind, as the thought of seeing his family again got him excited. He put the food down on the table and picked everyone up from around the table, and hugged them all.

"Jeez Hunk," Lance wheezed. "You're getting strong."

"Whoops, sorry."

~~~~~

"Fools," Haggar muttered, putting her hand in front of her eyes with displeasure. The Galra guards and an officer had just told her about their plan with the Holt family, and she couldn't help but be disappointed.

"W-What?" The female Galra asked, looking nervously through the hologram.

"Matthew Holt escaped with the Rebels a long time ago, and we don't know what happened to Samuel!" Haggar screeched, gritting her teeth together. "Just get your asses to Earth, and take it over, for the empires sake. This is enough dilly-dallying, we need to make progress before reporting back to Zarkon."

"B-But we don't even know who is related to-!" The officer tried but was cut off by Haggar.

"I don't care. . ." A plan seemed to form in her mind now. "I have a plan."


	6. The Mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, school sucks. ALSO, I kinda was lazy at the beginning, and towards the end meh.

He promised himself that he would try this before the mission coming up. Ever since the idea that came to him a day ago, he’s been thinking none stop about this, and he was determined to do it.

Setting the space version of a phone down, he set his clean, pyjamas on the bench at the side of the training deck. Clicking aimlessly on the orange phone, he found a specific song he was looking for and went to the middle of the room. 

He started off with stretching, as he didn't want to pull something or by an accident hurt himself. Of course, he followed that up with some warming up with jumping jacks. Lance wasn’t quite as good at this specific routine as he hasn’t done it in quite some time. He felt stiff. He didn’t like it too much.

Sighing, he took a deep breath and told the ship to start up a level one training drone.

Then he fought it.

Let’s just say that he ended up with more damage than the drone did.

Letting out shuddering breaths, he peeled himself off of the training floor and put his hands on his face.

Let’s try this again, Lance said to himself.

The music was put on once more, but this time it was more intense, and with a beat. His hips immediately started to sway to the beat, and his soul felt a bit lighter. 

The second drone was fought with a deadly, yet beautiful dance that consisted of Lance high kicks, round offs, and swift moves. Long story short, he beat the drone in under a half an hour with his dancing. And he was determined to half that by the end of the year. That was his personal goal.

~~~~~

There was something off with the group of teenagers, it seemed to Allura. They seemed to be more secretive, excited, and like they’re planning something. Pidge has always been sneaky, as she would regularly try to get alone time to work on special projects when she was supposed to be sleeping. Hunk was different, he was very open about what he is doing and often followed the rules. This seemed to be important. Obviously, if Keith and Lance seemed to be working together, she knew that whatever the four of them were planning, it must be important. She could tell that Shiro and Coran had noticed the odd behaviour as well, and were planning on confronting them on it later. As it turns out, they didn’t have to, because they came to her first.

The teenagers were whispering to each other, smiling wildly, and glancing over to the Princess. If Allura was being honest, she was feeling a bit self-conscious with their stares, and whispers. Finally, after what seemed to be hours, when it was really just minutes, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith walked over to the Altean and smiled politely.

“Yes, Paladins?” Allura asked, hiding her suspicious glance.

“We have a request,” Hunk said, awkwardly shifting his weight. “And it’s a pretty big one, so just hear us out,” Allura nodded. 

“Basically, Lance’s sisters birthday is coming up in November-” Pidge began, but stopping at the Princesses confused expression. “November is a month on Earth. It’s just to tell the time of the year. Anyways, his sister’s birthday is coming up, and we were wondering if we could possibly go back to Earth for a couple days?” 

Allura looked sadly on the hopeful teenagers. “I wish you could, but surely enough coloured lions would definitely attract the Galra to your precious planet.”

“Yes, but,” Keith started, looking smugger. “Pidge suggested we use the escape pods, and use the camouflage.” Pidge was now smiling widely at Keith, as the older seemed to be proud of her. 

Allura seemed to be debating it. “Yeah! We could go in all sneaky-stealth mode, and fly on into Earth, meet up with the fams, and get right back on with protecting the universe.” Lance exclaimed.

“Who would protect the universe on those days though?” She asked.

“Allura,” Shiro finally cut in, feeling the same yearning for the blue planet. “These are kids. Human kids. We all need breaks, and this might be the best one you can give them. I’m sure that if we asked the Blade of Marmora they could take care of it, and keep us updated.”

“I suppose,” Allura frowned, going over the pros and cons.

“Yeah! I could take that time to fix up the Paladins bedrooms! I could finally make them feel more at home!” Coran was finally getting excited. He ran out of the deck, through the halls, where no one could see him, and came back banging with loads of blankets, pictures, and other things in bags. 

“Alright then, we should check with the Blade of Marmora, and if they agree, then I can offer you a couple days to go back to your home planet,” Allura smiled. Lance whooped and pulled in Hunk, Pidge, and Keith for a big group hug. Keith stiffened but relaxed once he saw Lance’s excited features. 

Shiro smiled fondly at the group of teenagers and took in a big sigh. He was excited to go back, though he knew that the guilt of not being able to bring back Colleen Holt’s son, and husband was going to weigh down on him fairly harshly. Though, he knew that she was going to be excited about seeing her daughter again. _Man,_ Shiro thought, _that poor woman has lost all of her family._

“Paladins,” Allura finally said, noticing the approaching planet on her map. “Mission is coming up. We can celebrate later, but for now, you all need to focus. You all know your rolls, now go get suited up. Good luck, Paladins!”

With their happiness cut short, and abruptly, they all sulk their way to their respective lions. 

The mission seemed to sneak up on them when they were too excited about possibly getting to see their families again. So, they all got ready, shoved the thought of their homes to the back of their minds, and got ready to start the mission.

“Ready, Mullet?” Lance asked, an easy going smirk on his face.

“Oh jeez,” Keith muttered. Lance couldn’t help but let his smirk grow even wider as he noticed the small, fond smile that was plastered on Keith’s face. 

~~~~~

“What’s this?” Coran asked, pressing his face against the hologram. “There seems to be unknown life forms on the planet.” He brushed through his moustache.

“Inhabitants?”

“I don't think so, Princess,” Coran was narrowing his eyes at the screen. “From the abnormal auras their machinery seems to be giving off, I don’t think that it is them. Aa’tnaa’s have the law to never use electricity, or anything to draw attention to themselves. . . I think these might be a third party.”

Allura raised an eyebrow. “What kind of third party? Rebels?”

“Most likely so,”

~~~~~

The plan seemed to be going brilliantly. . . that was until five minutes in. Hunk’s lion seemed to shut down, and knocked straight into Green. Red then randomly began to shoot blasts at Lance, and everyone was freaking out. Shiro, of course, was trying to regain control of his team, but the teenagers seemed to be too caught up in their lions deadly game of tag, and tackle, to notice their leader. 

“Why don’t you just tell your kitty to stop!?” Lance screeched, urging Blue to fly away faster. Keith seemed to ignore the whole ‘kitty’ thing.

“I’m trying!” He gritted out, wiggling the lion's joysticks, in hopes of shifting its course away from the distraught, screaming Paladins lion. “I can’t control her! The controls are dead! She’s doing this on her own!”

“Oh for fu-! Red! I swear to the Lord, I’m going to count to three, and by the time I’m at one, you better stop trying to _kill me_!” Lance tried to use his parental voice on the rebelling lion, but it didn’t seem to have the same effect it did on Valeria as it does on red. Frustration was about inches away from taking over Lance’s fears, and he was tempted to just opt out of the planet's atmosphere to stop gaining as much attention. 

_”Paladins,”_ Allura’s voice rang through the comms. _”There are other lives on the planet. I think the aura’s or vibes their machinery is giving off is messing with your lions’ bond with you all! We’re going to have to abort the mission, and contact the unknowns! Head back to the ship.”_

It seemed like a plausible plan. That was until more Galra ships came out of nowhere, and forced the Paladins to stay. They had a duty to fulfil, and the Galra knew that.

“Yeah,” Lance chuckled nervously. “Don’t think the furries are agreeing with that.”

“Princess, I think you should try to contact the other life forms and make them shut down as soon as possible. We’re gonna need Vol-” Shiro slammed forward in his seat, after being thrown across the planet’s field from Hunk’s lion. “Uh, Tron, in order to win against that many ships.”

There was a slight pause from the other side of the comms. “I’m going to vomit. I am so sorry guys.” Hunk sounded very upset from what Lance could hear. 

“ _I’m trying to contact them._ ” That was all that Allura said.

Finally, Red shot at the Black Lion, and she seemed to have enough. Black roared at all the members of Voltron, and the lions seemed to pause. Still, without the pilots controlling their lions, they bowed down, showing shame.

“What the. . . alright, next time this happens just attack Black.” Lance sighed.

All of the paladins went back to trying to control their lions, of course, they didn’t respond. “Okay,” Pidge said, trying to decipher what was happening. “From what I can tell, the lions are going into automatic shut down. I’m fairly sure that this is a sort of self-destructing, without destructing. I think it’s protocol to protect the pilots from one another. I’m guessing Black has the, quote on quote, remote for them all.”

“That does make sense,” Shiro said, gripping the steering to calm his nerves. He tried to ignore the glowing of his arm, that last hit had shaken him more than he would admit. “Black needed all of the lions in order to work in the first place. Good job, Pidge.” The video calls weren’t working, however, he knew that she must be smiling from the lack of reply.

Lance was tapping his fingers on the controls, trying to comfort Blue, yet not quite feeling the bond between them. It was throwing him off, it feels like he just lost another daughter. Within that thought, he was brought even more sadness. From the way the mission was going, he could bet that Allura wasn’t going to let them go back to Earth. Too much risk. Lance wanted to crawl up into a ball and cry.

The pain of wanting to go home physically hurt now.

~~~~~

The main deck was quiet between the two Alteans, and they were beginning to feel the annoyance with the unknown life forms. Eventually, they gained access to them. 

“Hello, I am Princess Allura-” 

“I know who you are. You’re with Voltron, right?” The figure asked from the other side of the video call.

“Depends whos asking,” Coran was trying to be smart with this.

“Believe me, we’re definitely not your enemy, I can assure you that.”

“Well, currently you’re doing more harm than good.”

~~~~~

The connecting bond between pilot and lion came back with a bang, and Lance could swear he got whiplash from it. Blue’s warm comfort instantly swirled around the Cuban father, and the pain in his gut lessened. Tears of joy instantly formed in Lance’s eyes, but he wiped them away when the video call came back on. Everyone seemed to be just as happy as he was from the rekindled bond with all of the lions.

_”Alright Paladins, back on with your mission. However, now you have allies.”_ Alluras voice chimed through the comms. 

Of course, the Paladins wondered who the allies were, but their best guesses were the rebels. And by the colours of the team fighting the Galra, they could tell that it definitely was some time of rebel alliance. 

Gathering himself, Lance set off to help Shiro and Pidge with their part of the mission, as the whole entire scouting thing was definitely not going to work anymore. Lance could feel Blue telling him that Keith was following, probably thinking the exact same thing. 

“Righty-ho! Let’s go! Shiro, what do you want me and Keith to do now?” Lance asked, brushing off any kind of sadness that he was feeling. Blue immediately purred to help heal.

“Uh,” Shiro seemed to be checking his sensors. “I think the rebels need a bit of help down below. They’re fighting on foot.”

“Okie dokie,” Lance smirked. “How about one of us fight on foot whilst the other fights from their lion?”

“Why would that be a good idea?” Keith deadpanned.

Lance took in a sigh, sometimes the team needed to trust him a little bit. “Because ” Lance drawled. “Us, in the lions, can’t gain a connection with the rebels. But if one of us goes down there we can direct the other in what to do.”

“We have Allura,” Keith glanced at the video chat between the lions and the spoken Princess and noticed that she seemed to be caught up in her own battle between the bigger ship, and the castle ship. “Okay, nevermind, then. I’ll go down,”

“Why don’t I?”

“Because I’m better at hand to hand combat!” Keith gritted out.

“Sure, but I’m better at shooting with a gun. Therefore I can be back up for the rebels!”

“Lance,” Keith raised an eyebrow, obviously confused. “That doesn’t make any sense!”

“I-I know,” Lance muttered, keeping himself away from saying the real reason why he wanted to go instead of Keith. “What about the fact that you’re too reckless, and I think the rebels would trust me a lot more. Sorry to say it Keith, but I’m more chill,” Lance forced a smirk on his face. 

Keith almost growled at Lance, but he wasn’t quite that much of a Galra. He let out a sigh and looked down at the rebels. They were losing quite badly, and he noticed the looks they were giving towards the red lion. He guessed that talk about the Red Paladin being half Galra spread quicker than he thought. He was being hated for something he couldn’t change. He ignored the sharp pain in his chest.

“Fine,” He sighed. “Just don’t get hurt, and don't be stupid. Keep to backup. I don't want to see you going all kamikaze and fighting with hidden knives.”

“Don’t worry, Keith,” Lance said nonchalantly. “I’m not you.”

That’s when Lance landed Blue onto the ground and set off towards the direction of the rebels. The Galra immediately started to fire towards the Blue Paladin, and Lance couldn’t help but notice their terrible aim. 

Was it possible that they weren’t trying to kill him?

~~~~~

“Blue one is on the ground, just graze him a little. We only need a little blood.” Haggar snarled.

“B-But why don’t we just take him?” The Captain asked, shooting towards the small figure running on the ground.

Haggar let out a sound of annoyance. “We’re overpowered here,”

~~~~~

It seemed to be going okay for Lance. He was shooting the grounded Galra and noticed that they were officially winning the fight. It seemed like they weren’t quite ready for an allied rebels and Voltron.

It was good,

That was until he got shot in the abdomen.

He could vaguely hear the team shouting for him over the comms, however, the pain was too overpowering. The white-hot pain soon seemed to flood his body and make every limb immobile. 

That’s when he felt the arms wrap around him.

That was also when he heard specific words that didn’t quite register in his mind.

“You’re Lance, right? Don’t worry, I’ll bring you back to Voltron, and we can all forget about this little screw-up. Shit! You’re bleeding badly,” The man who was holding him exclaimed. Lance narrowed his eyes at the stranger.

“P-Pidge?”

“Pidge? My name is Matt. . . shit, stay awake. . . awake . . . please. . . safe. . . Voltron!”


	7. Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance feels calm in the face of death, and Clara is gaining popularity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... hi. Yikes, it's been 84 years. Basically, school is stressful and I took a dip into depression... but hey, I'm better now. So! You can check out my profile bio for update dates/schedule!!  
>  Plus, as much as I love Voltron, I'm out of my craze for it, so I tend to lose motivation for this. But I will finish it! And Season 6 is a thing. I haven't watched it yet, but I do plan to. Not to mention, Season five kind of cuts off my ideas for Matt and whatever, but I'm still going with it, so this is even more of an AU than before aha.

There was something calming about being close to death. 

Of course, he thought that his time to leave the world of the living would be when he was old and wrinkly. He thought he would have had more time to come to terms with death, and he used to think that it would take him years to be okay with that fact. But the thing is, now that he could practically taste the death clawing at his mind... he was fine. 

Lance remembered the older days when he would sit in front of the TV with his siblings, watching the cartoons. Or, when his parents would go to bed, he would sneak out of his bedroom and watch even more movies with his siblings, except they were mostly rated R. He witnessed a lot of death scenes in these movies... and everyone who was dying would be crying, not wanting to leave the face of the Earth. He was already gone from Earth. 

It wasn't like that. There was no pain, no emotion. He was ready, for some reason. Lance, of course, had the time to reflect back on why he was so insecure, but they all seemed to silly when he's drifting in the abyss. He didn't know of the absolute madness his team, his friends, his _family_ was going through right at that moment. 

He could deal with death. He's been seeing it since he was nine. He was okay. 

And then it all sunk in. 

The smell of the waves that were washing up on the shore, the sound of his sibling's laughter. The feeling of the heat against his darker skin from the sun. Clara, her beautiful smile, and hair. He was always lost in her eyes. Valeria... Something snapped in Lance. 

It all happened in a rush, the memories of holding her for the first time, crying over her. The feeling of his face hurting from smiling so much. So much pride, and joy being built up inside of him for his baby girl. They didn't plan to have her, but damn it, he was going to do everything he can possibly do to make her life the best in the world. He instantly knew he was going to take more hours at work to give her everything she wanted. Of course, his schooling got in the way of everything, but he still went out of his way to be there every step if the way of her life. 

He guessed that was just something that came along with being a father. 

He needed to get back to her. Her and Clara, he needs them, and they need him. 

Lance gasped as he gained consciousness. His eyes snapped open, immediately taking in his surroundings, and his friends all huddled up against the glass of the cryo pods. They all seemed tired, with deep, dark bags under their eyes. Though there were smiles on their faces, as the glass finally opened, and Lance tumbled out. They caught him of course, they were always there to catch him. 

"H-Hey," Lance tried to smirk, as Allura was the main one to catch him. "I guess now it's me falling for you." Against all odds, Allura's smile was even larger. She seemed happy that Lance could still make jokes at a time like this. 

"And, he's back," Keith said, very dry. Then something magical happened, he smiled. Lance couldn't help but be awed, he instantly knew that whatever 'rivalry' that happened, was completely blown over. 

Lance smiled back. 

There was something off about the group... there was an extra member. A clone? Of Pidge? A taller clone of Pidge? _Wait..._ Lance thought to himself. 

"Oh hey, you guess found Matt!" He now realized how scratchy his voice was, but that didn't tone down how happy he was for Pidge. 

"Yeah!" Pidge seemed to perk up even more. "He actually carried you here," She then added with a mutter. "Which is shocking considering his muscle mass." 

Lance choked on his laugh, looking at Pidge's clones face. His jaw dropped, mocking hurt. He watched as Matt put his hand on his chest. "That's hurtful, Pidge. I'll have you know, I worked hard for these guns! Stupid Gremlin..." Pidge sent him a faux glare, which only seemed to fuel Matt's smirk. 

"I have a feeling we're going to be great friends," Lance couldn't help but blurt out. Which seemed to amuse Shiro. 

"That's exactly what Matt said when we described you to him," 

Lance chuckled. 

"Oh, Matt! Now that we know Lance is better," She smiled at Lance happily. "I can finally finish showing you around!" 

Lance continued to observe the older sibling, specifically his face. There's a scar. He instantly wanted to know what caused it. Lance seemed to get why Pidge tolerated him now, he was a lot like Matt. There seemed to be a quiet voice in his mind, _now that he's back she won't need you anymore._ Lance tried to push that thought to the back of his mind, and just be happy that he was alive. 

The lump in Lance's throat seemed to grow as he watched the siblings interact. Yeah, he was definitely not needed in Pidge's life anymore. That sucks. 

"Lance, you want to come?" Pidge asked as they made a move to continue on with their tour. 

_I think I just got whiplash,_ Lance thought as his mood skyrocketed. 

Hunk put his hand on Lance's shoulder, smiling softly. "As much as I know he wants to, he needs to eat first. I've made more Pineapple Space goo! We should eat first." Right as soon as he finished his sentence, Lance's stomach growled. Which triggered a bubble of laughter in the Cuban boys' throat. 

"Aw man, I feel like I haven't eaten in ten decapheebs!" Lance exclaimed, holding his stomach. As if on a timer, the entire team rushed Lance to the dining room, pushing him into a seat. Hunk immediately left to the kitchen. 

Yeah, he's happy to be alive. 

 

~~~~~ 

 

The city buzzed around her, the people were echoing in her ears as they carried on with their lives. She didn't know where she was, but that didn't matter. She lost her phone to some pickpocketer on the subway when she fell asleep. She was exhausted, and lonely. She left Cuba. She couldn't take the heat anymore, metaphorically and literally. She needed to hold her child again, but she was literally miles away. Clara was putting up missing pictures up in _Canada_. 

She knew it was futile, trying to search in Canada. However, she started a Facebook page for missing people, and it seemed to be gaining more attention. Her biggest concern was Lance, she made it clear on the page. She held live streams, kick starters, anything to gain attention. And it is gaining attention. She has people all over the world helping her find her lost love. 

She has also helped multiple families find their lost loved ones, and now news stations are even talking about her. It was insane. She was helping people even when she's in pain. Lance has been gone for so long, and her followers know that. They seem to want to find him as well, as Clara has been posting photos, and pictures of Lance. He was just such a likeable person, that everyone likes him. 

So, now she's in Canada. In Toronto. A city. Alone. 

She hollered for a taxi and watched as it pulled over to the side of the street for her. As she stepped into the taxi, she told the taxi driver to take her to the closest hotel. It was quiet, with the soft tune of some Britney Spears song on the radio. She wasn't the best with English, but she could manage. 

"So," The taxi driver started. "What's a girl like you doing alone in a city?" 

"Excuse me?" 

"I've seen you before, I think on Facebook, and I know for a fact that you are a long way from home." He had an accent, seemed fairly southern. 

"Oh," Clara didn't know what to say to that, it wasn't an everyday occurrence a stranger recognized her. It was a bit unsettling. "I'm searching for my boyfriend. And I'm not alone, I'm meeting my father at the hotel." It was a lie, and the driver knew it. He seemed a bit shocked at the lie. 

"Sorry, that was probably creepy," He laughed uncomfortably. "I know you from the Facebook page because I'm looking for my little girl. She's gaining attention from your page. Her name is Joyce." 

Clara remembered faintly of the girl she posted about. Yeah, she could see the resemblance. "Oh." 

The conversation died after that. A weight settled in her chest. The little girl had been missing for three years. She couldn't imagine having her own daughter missing for that long. Or maybe she did, but instead just her best friend. The familiar strike of longing hit her straight in the chest. That's when she remembered, she had seen a post on the girl. Joyce was found dead. 

Had they not told her father yet? This doesn't make any sense. 

"The boy," The driver spoke up again. "His name was Lance. Right?" 

"Is Lance," She corrected. 

"Yes, sorry." The driver apologized, though it didn't sound sincere. "I'm sure you'll see him soon." 

There was a hidden promise in that sentence. 

Clara felt her stomach fill with dread.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Update: March 30th

**Author's Note:**

> Kudo's, and comment's are appreciated! Even constructive criticism! I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing, and story developing!


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